A survey by the International Association of Operational Excellence
Professionals found that 80% of organisations have SOPs in place but
only 40% of them are effective.

Introduction
In hospitality, SOP’s have traditionally been paper-based manuals, but now
digital technology is creating a change.
The move to digital SOP’s has been pioneered by the manufacturing and
pharma industries where compliance is compulsory and working procedures
need to be precise, traceable and accessible in all parts of the workplace.
The hospitality industry can learn from the experience of these industries,
and also apply the latest trends and developments in the L&D (learning and
development) industry.
The industry will also need to consider the impact that generative AI
technology will have on the future of all workplace training and
development.
This white paper explores the future of SOPs in the hospitality industry,
highlighting trends, challenges, and innovations that will shape their
development and implementation.

Background
In most traditional catering business, the SOP Manual sits in the office –
the conventional joke is “the bigger the Manual, the more difficult it is to
take it down from the top shelf”.
If not a photocopy from another establishment, these Manuals are normally
compiled by a central department and the layout, format, language and
style can be obtuse which makes it difficult for staff to understand or relate
to the content.
The system is also time consuming for managers who need to distribute
updates and make sure they are added to the manual in each location.
These manuals are not easily accessible to employees and are cumbersome
to use in the workplace. Also, this is a stand-alone format with no ability to
integrate with other systems.
The general practice is that LOP’s, Local Operating Procedures, localised or
adapted versions of the SOP’s, become the practical operating systems for
many businesses.

Current Trends in Industry
Technology
The Digital technology trend in SOP’s emerged from the industrial and
manufacturing industries, where the implementation of a rigid operating
system is crucial for maintaining a well-organised, efficient, and totally
compliant manufacturing process.
It also helps to ensure statutory compliance, meet the necessary insurance
requirements and also the rigid demands of full traceability.

Learning and Retention
In tandem with these developments is a new awareness of how the current
generation learn and retain information, most of which is now screen
delivered.
The Sweetrush L&D Trends Report for 2024 has some interesting insights:
The average employee spends 20 minutes a week on learning
Social media is responsible for reducing our attention span – now
down to an average of 9 seconds – particularly for flat or static
content.
Learners will only invest time to learn skills if it provides a route to
advancement and the learning providers can deliver what will help
them learn – in a format they can relate to.

In The State of Online Corporate Training in 2024, ispring research
revealed the following:
Most employees now prefer microlearning, face-to-face training, roleplay simulations, and VR and AR activities
In 2023, companies used face-to-face training 8% more often than in
2022. However this is based on the blended learning approach, which
combines online and in-person training sessions.
This is an interesting finding, as the approach takes advantage of the best of
both worlds: learners can interact with a skilled trainer, and with each other
in real life to practice their new knowledge and skills, while continuing to
learn most of the time online at their own pace.
Role-play simulations, or scenarios, are interactive learning experiences that
allow employees to learn and practice new skills as they do in real life —
through trial and error.
Moreover, Clark Aldrich, one of the world’s most experienced designers of
educational simulations, states that role-play training should be a foundation
for corporate training because it helps achieve better learner engagement
and knowledge retention, and remains the only innovative training method
with proven effectiveness that most organisations can afford.

The Future
With 86% of training now taking place either completely or partly online,
it’s clear that digital is a key element of every successful L&D strategy –
The ultimate guide to designing quality elearning – Elucidat

In the near future most hospitality outlets will have access to digital
technology on which operating procedures to be available at all times, to all
staff, in any location, and on a range of devices.
The key question is how the information will be presented.
Various formats are currently emerging, including basic pdf’s, PowerPoint
delivery, You Tube videos, Q-code prompted videos, and fully interactive,
professionally authored course modules.
The most exciting development right now is that we are on the new edge of
a personalised learning approach which will be driven by AI.
Generative AI models can take inputs such as text, image, audio, video, and
code and generate new content into any of the modalities mentioned. For
example, it can turn text inputs into an image, turn an image into a song, or
turn video into text.
In the latest McKinsey Global Survey on AI, 65 percent of respondents
report that their organisations are regularly using gen AI, nearly double the
percentage from the previous survey just ten months ago.
Respondents’ expectations for gen AI’s impact remain as high as they were
last year, with three-quarters predicting that gen AI will lead to significant or
disruptive change in their industries in the years ahead.
According to Mordor Intelligence, 40% of American retailers have
already adopted AI in some form, and this number is projected to leap to
80% over the next three years.
This modern technology will allow the hospitality industry to revolutionise
the application of SOP’s as used in day-to-day operations.
The content can remain the same, but the style and form of delivery will be
interactive, leading to a more immersive learning experience.
And the key to this immersive learning is personalisation: 77% of L&D
professionals believe that personalised learning is vital for employee
retention and performance improvement (Brandon Hall Group, 2020).
Personalised learning material can be adapted for each individual user,
and the Learning Leader can become an avatar in each module to respond
in real time to questions or queries.
The format will be able to direct the role-play scenarios and anticipate the
individual needs of the user.
The technology will also be capable of discerning the primary learning traits
of the user – aural, visual, written, and will be able to modify delivery
formats to meet these traits.
Here at Customer Care Insights, we are conscious of these trends, and we
are already developing personalised modules for operating procedures which
will allow us to incorporate constantly evolving AI features.

Summary
The future of SOP’s lies in digitisation, and the hospitality industry now has
an opportunity to leap-frog conventional digital and develop personalised
modules which can incorporate AI features.
This will allow staff to have relevant, laser-focused information which will be
presented in an interactive and intuitive way.
At Customer Care Insights we have learned that one of the foundations of
good customer care is good operating systems which allow the operation to
flourish.
In tandem with our digital personal development courses, we are now
developing personalised operations modules which we call dPOP’s – digital
Personal Operating Procedures.
Call us to talk about the future – because the future is not standard anymore – its personal.

Frank Down – October 2024